Pantheon has executed a contractual agreement with Halliburton to acquire its 25% working interest in the six leases jointly held with Pantheon on the North Slope of Alaska. Under the agreement, which is subject to a customary approval process by the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Halliburton will transfer to Pantheon their entire working interests in the leases in exchange for Pantheon accepting full responsibility for all future lease obligations.

As a result of this transaction Pantheon now holds 100% working interest in the 22,804 acres that make up the Alkaid/Phecda project, and 92% working interest in two additional adjacent leases comprising 11,367 gross acres. Upon the conclusion of this transaction, Pantheon will hold a 90-100% working interest in c.177,000 gross acres containing potential for 1.2 billion barrels of oil recoverable, located in close proximity to the North Slope of Alaska’s major highway and pipeline infrastructure. In addition, Pantheon holds 10% working interest in the Winx acreage, covering an additional c.23,000 gross acres.

Jay Cheatham, CEO, said:
“This is great news for Pantheon shareholders. Alkaid is a tremendous success for our Company, and this transaction delivers us 100% ownership of the Alkaid/Phecda project which contains an estimated 900 million barrels of oil in place, and a P50 Technically Recoverable Resource estimated at 90-135 million barrels of oil based upon primary recovery assumptions of 10-15%. 100% ownership is important to our farm out discussions. The location of this project, sitting immediately below and adjacent to the Dalton Highway and Trans Alaskan Pipeline offers significant cost and timing advantages over other North Slope Projects, with the possibility of year round activity and targeted first production as early as 2020.”

“Today’s news follows the similarly important news only last month where we advised shareholders of the material advancements in the potential of our nearby Talitha Appraisal (Brookian) and Talitha Exploration (Kuparuk) projects, following a period of extensive analysis with the technical experts at eSeis.”

“Our data room is open and we are working to find the right partner for the development of these significant projects.”

KeyFacts Energy: Acquisitions & Mergers news